Nights in White Satin - London Festival Orchestra,The Moody Blues | Song Info | AllMusic Nights in White Satin google+ Song Review by Richie Unterberger "Nights in White Satin" is the Moody Blues' most famous song, and their biggest hit, though it wasn't until five years after its initial release that it made number two as a single. At first it was a song on their 1967 album Days of Future Passed, the first to feature new members Justin Hayward, who wrote the song, and John Lodge. The melody of this ballad, as has been noted elsewhere, is close to the one used by Ben E. King on his 1963 melodramatic soul hit "I (Who Have Nothing)." That melody itself had been based on an Italian song King had heard in Italy, with English lyrics by his producers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Still, the instrumentation on the Moody Blues track is substantially different, particularly in the use of an eerie mellotron, an instrument of course that would be a staple of the group's most popular recordings.

"Nights in White Satin" does effectively fulfill what was probably the purpose Hayward and his bandmates had in mind for it: a ghostly, haunting nocturnal ballad, with a lilting and memorable melody. The melodrama gets pushed to the fore (as does the resemblance to the chorus of "I (Who Have Nothing)") on the chorus, as the tempo becomes more emphatic and the group's background vocals become especially eerie, like voices in a windblown night. The instrumental break is also well done and in keeping with the hushed mood of the production, an echoed drumbeat leading into a lonely flute solo, the orchestration becoming more dense as the break progresses, building to a near-crescendo before leading into the final verse. It wasn't until 1972, though, that the song became a huge American hit, when it was pulled out for a single. It was, in fact, a Top 20 hit no less than three times in Britain: first just after the release of Days of Future Passed, then again in late 1972, and then again in late 1979.

If you're looking for a peculiar big-name cover version of "Nights in White Satin," check out the one War did in the early '70s, when Eric Burdon was still their leader and lead singer. Appears On Nights in White Satin by The Moody Blues Songfacts Nights in White Satin by The Moody Blues Songfacts Songfacts The Moody Blues recorded the album with The London Festival Orchestra, which never actually existed - it was the name given to the musicians put together to make the Days of Future Passed album. The orchestral parts were performed separately and edited between and around the Moody Blues parts, so the orchestra did not actually accompany the group. The original idea was for the group and orchestra to record a rock version of Dvorak's "New World Symphony," which their record company would use to demonstrate enhanced stereo sound technology. This was written by Justin Hayward, who joined the band the previous year after Denny Laine left the group. He got the idea for the song after someone gave him a set of white satin sheets, and wrote it in his bed-sit at Bayswater.

Haywood told the Daily Express Saturday magazine May 3, 2008: "I wrote our most famous song, 'Nights in White Satin' when I was 19. It was a series of random thoughts and was quite autobiographical. It was a very emotional time as I was at the end of one big love affair and the start of another. A lot of that came out in the song." Before joining The Moody Blues, a teenaged Justin Hayward signed a deal with Lonnie Donegan's publishing company, which ended up giving Donegan the lion's share of the royalties for this and other songs Hayward wrote at the time. Donegan was star in the '50s, famous for his skiffle sound that influenced The Beatles and The Who. In the '60s, he became more involved in the business side of the industry and formed his publishing company Tyler Music. Days of Future Passed is a concept album based around different times of day. For example, " Dawn Is A Feeling " and " Tuesday Afternoon ." This song was last on the album because it represents nighttime.

Justin Hayward was inspired by Moody Blues keyboard player Mike Pinder's composition "Dawn Is A Feeling." Since Pinder had done "The Morning" for the concept album, Hayward tried to do "The Night." Fans have come up with many interpretations of this song, which is just fine with Justin Hayward, who fells that the receiver gives life to the transmission. "It's the listeners who bring the magic and the interpretations to these songs," he said in his 2016 Songfacts interview . This song introduced a new sound for the band. When they formed, they were more of a blues band, and had a hit in 1965 with a cover of Bessie Banks' " Go Now ." With the songs on Days of Future Passed, they distinguished themselves with original songs in a more psychedelic/orchestral sound. "Nights in White Satin" was originally released in 1967, charting at #19 in the UK, but topping out at #103 in America, where six-minute songs were a tough sell at the time.

In 1972, after songs like " Hey Jude " and " Layla " paved the way for long, dramatic tunes (and The Moody Blues became more popular), the song was re-released in the US and became a hit, going to #2 and sending sales of the reissued album skyward. In the UK, the song made two more chart appearances, going to #9 in 1972 and #14 in 1979. The poem at the end was recorded separately. It is called Late Lament and was written by their drummer, Graeme Edge. The poem was read by keyboard player Mike Pinder. Edge wrote another poem that appeared early on the album called Morning Glory. The Dickies 1979 Punk version reached #39; the Moody Blues used to use The Dickies version sometimes when doing a sound check. The week of December 2, 1972, this song plunged from #17 to completely out of the Hot 100, setting a record for the biggest drop out of that chart in a single week.

Drastic chart disappearances became more common in the '10s, and the Glee Cast version of " Toxic " made the fall from the #16 spot in 2010. Talking about the experiences that inspired the lyrics to this song, Justin Hayward said: "About an audience in Glastonbury, a flat in Bayswater and the ecstasy of an hour of love." Among the many artists to record this song are Procol Harum, Eric Burdon, Percy Faith, Nancy Sinatra and Il Divo. When we spoke with Justin Hayward in 2013 , he told us that the best cover he heard of this song was by the soul singer Bettye LaVette . "She covered 'Nights,' and somebody sent it to me as an MP3, a link," he explained. "I was sitting in bed with my laptop waking up to my emails, and I clicked on this link and I burst into tears. My wife came in and she said, 'What the hell's the matter with you?' And I said, 'You've got to listen to this.' She didn't cry. But I heard the lyric for the first time.

There have been hundreds, maybe thousands of covers of 'Nights in White Satin,' but that was the first time I heard it for real." The Moody Blues enjoyed a long and illustrious career that took them well into the 2010's, and included thousands of performances, most of which featured this song. How does Justin Hayward handle the repetition? "I never lose the emotion of songs like that," he told us. "I'm lucky enough not to have lost the emotion or the motivation, because it's a wonderful thing to be able to share. And the audience provides the emotion around that. Because you do it in sound check and it's fine, but when there's an audience there, it completely transforms the experience." Nights In White Satin | The Ultimate Rock and Pop Music History Website - ROKPOOL Nights In White Satin The Moody Blues discography Biography: The Moody Blues are a UK band that have had hit albums in the UK, US and worldwide – with an impressive 50 million albums sold and 14 platinum and gold discs. They started life as a Rhythm and Blues based sound in 1964, emanating from Erdington in Birmingham.

Their name developed from a planned sponsored from a brewery and was also a nod to the Duke Ellington song: 'Mood Indigo'. They were initially John Lodge, Michael Pinder, Denny Laine, Graeme Edge and Clint Warwick, undergoing a few line-up changes throughout the years, notably recruiting Justin Hayward as the singer. First signed to Decca Records, the band hit gold with their 2nd single, ‘’Go now’’ which remains their sole No. 1 in the UK. Despite debut album, 'The Magnificent Moodies' sounding distinctly rhythm and blues influenced, their sound changed for their 2nd album 'Days of Future Passed' – which was more orchestral, and contained well-known track 'Nights in White Satin' which went on to become a million seller when re-released 5 years later, in 1972. CLICK HERE FOR EVEN MORE UNIQUE THE MOODY BLUES VIDEOS They moved on to a more psychedelic sound that helped to define the progressive rock genre, with their 1968 album 'In search of the Lost Chord'.

The band took a long break in 1974, reuniting in 1978 with the album 'Octave' which sold well, and in 1979 the band toured the US and England, by 1981 The Moody Blues had reached No.1 again in Billboard charts and Top 5 in the UK with LP 'Long Distance Voyager'. Between 1991 and 1998, the band took an extended break from recording , instead trying to perfect live music with an orchestra. 1999 saw the return of the long-running band, with the modestly received album 'Strange times' and an appearance on The Simpsons. Since the turn of the century, The Moody Blues have released a live concert 'Hall of Fame', the film Journey into Amazing Caves and a Christmas themed album. Their most popular albums were re-released in 2006, and the following year the now closed Hard Rock theme park in the US announced a ride: 'Nights in White Satin – the Trip'. Members have included Graeme Edge, David Justin Hayward, Denny Laine, John Lodge, Patrick Moraz, Michael Pinder, Ray Thomas, Clint Warwick.

Group formed in Birmingham England, 1964; founding members Denny Laine and Clint Warwick left the group and were replaced by Justin Hayward and John Lodge, 1966; formed Threshold recording label, 1969; disbanded, 1974; reunited with Patrick Moraz replacing Mike Pinder on keyboards, 1977. The band continue to tour. Albums: The Magnificent Moodies, Decca, 1965. Days of Future Passed, Deram, 1967. In Search of the Lost Chord, Deram, 1968. On the Threshold of a Dream, Deram, 1969. To Our Children's Children's Children, Threshold, 1969. A Question of Balance, Threshold, 1970. Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Threshold, 1971.

Moody Blues: Moody Blues Live Concert, 3rd March 1972, Amsterdam, royal albert hall, nights in white satin Question Dear Tracy, I am trying to get the Moody Blues to be made aware of a soundboard recording of their performance at the Amsterdam Concert Hall, March 3rd 1972, which was recorded by VPRO radio of Amsterdam. This recording was released online by VPRO in 2003 I believe. An incomplete segment of the show was posted: Are You Sitting Comfortably/The Dream/Have You Heard Pt. 1/The Voyage/Have You Heard Pt. 2/Nights In White Satin/Legend Of A Mind. Judging from other Moody Blues live setlists, this is the latter portion of their performance on this date. This show segment was posted as a "Real Audio" or ".RA" file online. To make a long story short, .RA is an audio file format that is deleterious to the audio fidelity of the recording. The recording itself is superbly mixed and mastered, but it has been compressed by the audio format in which was posted on VPRO's website.

On the "Threshold Of A Dream: Live At The Isle Of Wight" DVD, Justin Hayward says that he did not know that a recording of the 8/30/1970 Isle Of Wight Festival even existed. Thus, I am concerned that The Moody Blues are not aware of the existence of this recording from 3/03/1972. The 3/03/1972 performance is phenomenal and superb in musicianship, and is extremely emotionally gripping. It is in my opinion a superior performance to both the 12/12/1970 Royal Albert Hall performance on the album "Caught Live + 5", and to the 8/30/1970 Isle Of Wight performance. Thus, it is a tragedy that this recording is not available in full, and in full audio fidelity. The Moody Blues need to be made aware of the existence of this recording so that they may benefit from having it in their musical catalog to rightfully sit alongside their other live musical performances from this era, and so they can have a another extremely commercially viable live album release, and most importantly, so millions of fans can share in the joy of this astounding performance.

I am desperate to find some means by which to contact The Moody Blues, or their agent, or someone who can pass a message on to the band, so that they are compelled to release this recording in its entirety and in full CD-quality. I believe this is a much more important message for the band to hear, than for simply, "fan-mail", gushing about how much one loves The Moody Blues, I am trying to get this information to them for their benefit, and for the benefit of millions of their fans. Please let me know if anything can be done to this end, and please write me back with any questions or let me know if I can do anything at all to help make this release a reality. I have already sent this message to their fan club and implored for it to be passed on to someone who can pass it on down the line so that The Moody Blues are made aware of this recording, and thus officially release it on CD. Thank you for your time, and spread this information to anyone who might be able to help, I humbly beseech you!

Michael Answer Hi Michael, Gosh, the Moodies' management has changed at least a couple of times since I was working on "Higher & Higher", and I'm honestly not sure exactly, whom to contact anymore about something like this. You can, however, pop over to Mike Pinder's site and drop him a line in the "Questions for Mike" forum. I know he's pretty active there, and will likely be your best shot at getting this recording heard. (At the very least, I'm pretty certain he'll be extremely interested and would likely pick your brain over it.) Other than that, I really don't know anymore whom within the Moodies organization would be a solid contact. I wish I could be of more help, Michael. You'll have to give that a try and let me know how it goes - and thanks for using Allexperts.com! Tracy Tracy Zimmermann Expertise Iï¿½m pretty confident that I can answer just about any question about the band or their music you may have. Iï¿½ve been a fan since 1972 and have followed their careers (collectively and as solo artists,) closely ever since.

In addition, I've amassed a vast database on all things Moody - from "completest" discographies for the band and all of their solo projects, to extensive bibliographies, videographies, posterfiles, etc. I have an extensive collection of memorabilia; both group and related solo projects. My collection includes vinyl, CDs, tapes (cassette, 8-track, and reel,) posters, shirts, sheet music and songbooks, back stage passes, magazines, books and other publications, equipment, and video. If I donï¿½t know it, I know where to find it. All you have to do is ask! Experience Iï¿½ve been a fan of the band since 1972. I was a contributing editor to "Higher and Higher", the Moody Blues Magazine 1994, to the magazineï¿½s untimely demise in 2007, writing the Videography Department.

Publications As noted previously, much of my writing has appeared in ï¿½Higher and Higherï¿½ since 1994, but I also wrote a piece that appeared in issue #1 of Mike Pinderï¿½s newsletter ï¿½Have You Heardï¿½. Education/Credentials Though I havenï¿½t yet finished, my educational focus is on a Journalism degree. Awards and Honors I've also had the good fortune to have traveled to England to catch the end of the Band's Spring 2000 concert tour; a trip I've always wanted to take. Iï¿½ve supplied research information on the band to a number of sources, including the July 5, 2004 English Quiz Show ï¿½Mastermindï¿½ which featured a contestant whose expertise was also the Moody Blues. I also participated in the UK Channel 4 presentation of the ï¿½Top Tenï¿½ program's episode on Progressive Rock, that featured the Moody Blues at #3 on their list. That program aired on March 3, 2001.

Nights In White Satin – The Moody Blues | MusikBloggNo Nights In White Satin – The Moody Blues Publisert 17. November 2015 av Tony Burton , som har skrevet 154 innlegg på MusikBloggNo . “I was just a 19-year old kid when I wrote it, and there’s actually a lot of wisdom there that I never noticed at the time” Nights In White Satin – The Moody Blues Deram 161 (UK) / Deram 85023 (USA) Recorded at Decca, West Hampstead, London Released 10 November 1967 Producer Tony Clarke UK #19 1/68 USA #2 11/72 UK #9 12/72 UK #14 11/79 When ‘Nights In White Satin’ writer Justin Hayward joined the Moody Blues in 1966, he joined a group who had already enjoyed their taste of fame with the 1965 #1, ‘Go Now!’, but had not managed to follow up that success.

Originally a rhythm and blues band from Birmingham, England, the group was at a low ebb after their former vocalist Denny Laine left to pursue a solo career. (He later joined Paul McCartney’s Wings and co-wrote the massive 1977 hit ‘Mull Of Kintyre’) Searching for a new guitarist/vocalist to replace Laine, Hayward got the job by pure luck – along with several thousand others he’d applied for a job with Eric Burdon’s Animals, but Eric had already found a guitarist, so he passed on the post-sack of applicants to the Moody Blues’ Ray Thomas, and Hayward’s letter was the first he picked out of the bag! The group decided that they had little to lose by changing their image, and as luck would have it, still retained their recording contract with Decca Records. Retiring to Belgium to write and rehearse a new stage act they created a sequence of songs based around a normal day. A lucky break and a studio conspiracy were to follow as Justin Hayward explains: “What happened was, we didn’t have a recording contract to make albums, we had a contract to deliver four singles a year.

We owed Decca some money, so they came to us and said they wanted the group to record rock version of Dvorak’s ‘New World Symphony’.” The label wanted to promote its new stereophonic sound label, “Deramic Sound System”. This wasn’t exactly what the group had in mind, but it certainly suited their purposes. Demanding a week “alone” in the studio the Moodies proceeded to record their new material and together with their producer, Tony Clarke, persuaded Peter Knight, who’d been hired to conduct the ‘London Festival Orchestra’ (actually just a collection of session musicians) to go along with their scam. The result was Days Of Future Passed, recorded in 1967, a song suite interwoven with orchestral links composed by Knight. Presenting the finished product to Decca’s executives, the group was met with a stunned silence. It certainly wasn’t Dvorak, and many including Decca’s managing director didn’t like it at all. Fortunately for the Moody Blues, the American division of Decca and the company’s classical department (headed by Decca veteran Hugh Mendl) were more enthusiastic, and since a good deal of money had been spent making the album, it was duly released.

Though taking some time to find an audience, it was the album’s high point, Justin Hayward’s song, ‘Nights In White Satin’ that finally began to attract attention, reaching Number 1 in France. By early 1968 the single and album had begun to climb charts around the world, Days Of Future Passed reaching #3 in America where it received a gold disc. (On the back of their, by then, phenomenal success, ‘Nights In White Satin’ rose to #2 in America when it was re-issued in 1972) With Days Of Future Passed, the Moody Blues were the first pop group to successfully combine classical and popular music, setting the stage for Barclay James Harvest, Deep Purple, The Nice and many others. In fact, group and orchestra never actually recorded together. Justin Hayward explained; “It was all a bit frantic. As soon as we had recorded each track we rushed a copy over to Peter and he wrote a link for the orchestra and then recorded it.” Of the groups breakthrough song Hayward said; “I knew when I wrote it that it was like nothing I’d ever done before.

I was just a 19-year old kid when I wrote it, and there’s actually a lot of wisdom there that I never noticed at the time. People were going crazy for the song a long time before it was recorded; in fact we cut it for the BBC several months before we made Days Of Future Passed.” The Moody Blues were actually a mini-symphony orchestra in their own right, due to their use of the Mellotron, a keyboard instrument utilising pre-recorded orchestral tapes. Though the instrument had previously been something of a curiosity it had begun to make notable inroads in pop music. The opening sequence of the Beatles ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ is played on a Mellotron, but the Moodies were the first group to feature it as a main instrument – the group’s keyboardist Mike Pinder had in fact previously worked as a product tester at the Mellotron factory. The Mellotron soon became the standard keyboard of choice in progressive bands of the period, keyboard ‘King’ Rick Wakeman of Yes even strapping 2 Mellotrons together! And let’s not forget Barclay James Harvest, the group who were often, somewhat unfairly, described as a “second-rate Moody Blues”.

In answer to this they actually recorded a song called ‘Poor Man’s Moody Blues’ which bore an uncanny resemblance to ‘Nights In White Satin’! Aside from the Moody Blues catalogue, the best example of the Mellotron’s use is probably King Crimson’s In The Court Of The Crimson King which is pretty much dominated by the instrument. Between 1967 and 1972 the Moody Blues recorded and released 7 albums, all million sellers, and 4 of which reached #1 in either Britain or America. This made them one of the most popular groups on either side of the Atlantic with their brand of “symphonic rock”, and they are still able to fill American stadiums to this day. They were also virtually unique in that all 5 individual members wrote their own songs. This probably assisted their output since each member needed only to come up with a couple of songs per album instead of the burden being on one writer. However, ‘Nights In White Satin’ remains their best-loved and most successful song, making its mark on the British Top 20 on three separate occasions.

Justin Hayward sums up the songwriting process thus: “Songwriting for me is just such a magic moment – it’s the most beautiful thing, and it’s something from nothing – something that didn’t exist just a few minutes before.” Of several hundred cover versions of ‘Nights’, Justin revealed in a 2012 interview with songfacts.com his favourite is in fact one only recently discovered (and recently recorded), by US soul singer Bettye LaVette from her 2010 album The Interpretations. Justin Hayward still tours as a member of the Moody Blues at the time of writing (2015) and in 2013 released his first solo album in over a decade, Spirits of the Western Sky*. His favourite songs of his vast Moodies repertoire are apparently ‘Nights’ and 1972’s ‘New Horizons’. *Methinks there is a sample from Days Of Future Passed on the intro of the album’s title track, though there’s no mention of this in the sleeve notes….naughty, naughty!

Copyright © 2015 SongStories/Tony Burton The Incredible Journey Of 'Nights In White Satin' - uDiscover Browse albums now In the timeless flight of the Moody Blues , 'Nights In White Satin' is such a classic that it's strange to recount the slow, almost faltering progress of this epic ballad when it was first released. Justin Hayward's song, and its parent album, the Moodies' career-changing Days Of Future Passed, were both released on 10 November, 1967 — and for the first few weeks of their lives, the sum total of their UK chart presence was precisely nil. But gradually, the group's new marriage of pop and orchestral ingredients began to turn heads. With the additional attractions of Mike Pinder's keyboard effects on the Mellotron, little-used in popular music to that point, and Ray Thomas' flute, both the single and the album began to capture the imagination of both the public and the media. 'Satin' may have had an uncertain start, but few singles have gone on to such recurring and multi-faceted success, both in the UK and around the world.

After attracting radio support, the single on Decca's Deram label finally made the British Top 50 in the first week of 1968, some seven weeks after release. It was the first chart appearance of the Moodies' new line-up, retooled with the addition of Hayward and John Lodge, and the first time the group name had been on the UK singles list for more than two years, since 'Everyday' limped to No. 44. Even then, 'Satin' only just clambered onto the bottom rung of the Top 50, as The Beatles continued at No. 1 into the new year with 'Hello Goodbye.' The ballad then climbed to No. 35, making less than spectacular progress over the coming weeks before coming to a halt at No. 19 on the 20 February chart. It fared much better elsewhere, going all the way to No. 1 in 1968 in Holland, and reaching the top ten in Austria, Belgium and Switzerland, and the top 20 in Germany.

The initial UK activity was enough to kick-start Days Of Future Passed, which showed up on the bestsellers for the first time in late January 1968 and got as high as No. 27 in both February and March. The album reappeared from time to time over the next few years, making its last showing in 1973. By then, with the Moodies established as a major album and touring force, 'Nights In White Satin' had belatedly become a massive hit, reaching No. 2 in Billboard and No. 1 in the rival Cash Box countdown. That transatantic success, in turn, prompted the first reissue of 'Satin' in the UK, where it charted anew and became a much bigger hit second time around. The song spent three weeks in the top ten in late '72 and early '73, landing at No. 9. In 1979, it rose once again, in a new 12-week run that gave it another five weeks in the top 20 and a No. 9 peak.

This historic recording even managed one further chart week in 2010, prompted by a performance of the song by the eventual winner of that year's X Factor series, Matt Cardle. Those satin sheets that inspired Justin Hayward were made of the most enduring material. Listen to 'Nights In White Satin' on Days Of Future Passed on Spotify Classic tracks: Justin Hayward talks Nights In White Satin - Justin Hayward Classic tracks: Justin Hayward talks Nights In White Satin Posted on 10/22/2014 Musicradar.com “It’s a song that never seems to go away,” says The Moody Blues’ Justin Hayward of the band’s pop/proto-prog orchestral masterpiece and perennial hit Nights In White Satin. “It was a slow build, and of course, it was released a few times, but once it took hold, it did so in a really big way. It seemed to get into people’s minds and just stay there.

The whole thing’s very strange and wonderful.” The lush, transporting and immersive track, which appeared as a full-blown epic (clocking in at over seven and a half minutes, complete with a spoken-word poetry section called Late Lament) on the band’s 1967 album Days Of Future Passed, was released in edited form as a single in November of that year. The song reached the top of the charts in France, but in the UK it only got as high as number 17. “It was fantastic to hit the top in France, but of course, we were hoping to repeat that success elsewhere,” Hayward says. “Once it dropped off the UK chart, that seemed to be it for the song.” He laughs, then adds, “For a while, at least. As we all know, it came back bigger than ever, and it’s had all of these different lives over the years.” In the following interview, Hayward recounts the writing and recording of The Moody Blues’ signature song, as well as its unexpected re-entry into the charts in 1972, an occurrence that the singer says “changed my life and the band’s lives forever.” Walk me through the writing of the song.

As I understand it, you started it when you were 19. “Right. It was in early 1967, and I’d just come home from a gig. I was living in a one-room flat. I sat on the side of the bed and wrote the basic two verses and two choruses with a 12-string acoustic. I took it to the rehearsal room the next day because the guys were expecting me to have something to work up for a stage show. I played it for them and they were like, ‘Huh… it’s OK.’ I don’t think they were that thrilled – they didn’t hear it straightaway. “But then [keyboardist] Mike [Pinder] said, ‘Play it again,’ so I did. I sang ‘Nights in white satin… ’ and he did that little ‘da da da-da-da-da-daaa’ on the Mellotron. Then everybody seemed to get interested; it made sense to them. Once he delivered that phrase, which is really quite important, the song started working for them.” The song, along with the album Days Of Future Passed, came out in 1967, during the height of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper period.

Is it safe to say you guys were influenced by them a bit? “Oh, sure, more than a bit. I’d admit that, and I think other musicians who were around at the time would, too. To be part of the musical scene in London during that whole period was amazing, and The Beatles were our leaders, undoubtedly. They showed us the way. Sgt. Pepper and Strawberry Fields and other songs they did at the time – they gave us the freedom to try anything. “Obviously, we didn’t have the power or the money that The Beatles had. They could indulge every whim in the studio and basically do whatever they wanted. We had to catch a lucky break with Days Of Future Passed. That lucky break from Decca, who wanted a demonstration record for their new stereo systems, and that’s how we got to make the album. “To be honest, because we made the album as a stereo demonstration record, I thought that only a handful of people would even get to listen to it because only a handful of them had stereos at the time. What I didn’t realize was that FM radio was starting to take off in America, and the DJs and programmers were starved for good stereo records.

Even The Beatles had mono records at the time, which sounded great, but the people were starting to want stereo.” Like Sgt. Pepper, the album was recorded on four-track? “We did everything on four-track. It wasn’t as elaborate as it might seem at all. We recorded it at Decca Number One in Broadhurst Gardens, West Hampstead. We put our songs down, and then [producer] Tony Clarke, [engineer] Derrick Varnals and [composer] Peter Knight] bounced that with Peter recording a count through the entire 48 minutes. Then the orchestra came in for a three-hour session, and they rehearsed to a tape with our tracks and that count. So our tracks were finished in stereo, and then the orchestra, after a tea break, played their parts and recorded on that. That was it. “By the way, it’s called The London Festival Orchestra, but that’s just a name that we made up. It sounded right, but they didn’t actually exist. It was just a group of gypsies – that’s what we called them – these string players that would do a lot of sessions. Peter Knight put them together.

He was signed to Decca, and he did the orchestral arrangements between our songs for the album.” The poetry section, the Late Lament, was that always a part of the song? “That came about because we needed some kind of summing up of the story. We had a feeling within the band that everybody should contribute, not just me and Mike. [Drummer] Graeme [Edge] didn’t think that he had anything to contribute musically, but he did want to write something that pulled the Days Of Future Passed story together, which is the story of the day in the life of one guy, really. “That’s where that came about. So Mike did the poetry reading. He had such a beautiful, charming voice – mesmerizing. He could persuade me to do anything with that voice of his. So his voice doing the poetry section really made the whole piece feel complete. He did the recording in the dark while lying on his back, with the rest of us sitting around quite stoned.” [Laughs] You would perform Nights In White Satin on stage before it was re-released in ’72. Was there an overnight difference in the crowd response once they heard it on the radio? “Oh, yeah.

But funnily enough, that started building from about 1970, although yes, once it became a radio hit, the difference in the response was enormous. You have to remember, the 1960s were about singles. The indie promotion guy at Decca, back in ’67, when Decca wanted to release it, said, ‘Nah, I can’t plug that. It’s four and a half minutes, it’s slow and boring – it’ll never do anything.’ He washed his hands of it. That was rather upsetting. “He was right, to a certain extent, but then the culture changed. The Boxer changed quite a few things. That song was long and lilting. Sometimes you just have to give yourself up to a song – let it wash over you.” Although leading up to the re-release, there was no real thought to putting the song out again – it just seemed to happen on its own. “There was no grand plan behind the whole thing; in fact, the record company tried to suppress it. We had another album at the time to promote, Seventh Sojourn. They didn’t want us to be competing with ourselves, really.

But once DJs got their hands on Nights again, they decided they were going to go with it. Before you knew it, there was no turning back. “And what I think happened was, everybody seemed to know the song in a way – they knew it a little bit – so when it was put out again, people responded very quickly. I guess that were primed for it, having heard it maybe years earlier. They didn’t have to get used to it again – it was already in their consciousness somehow. So it was great – in ’72 the song was finally a real hit.” Do you prefer the album version to the single? “Actually, I liked the single – I never had a problem with it. Actually, many months before we recorded it for the album, we had recorded it for the BBC. It was for a show called Easy Beat. It was broadcast the day after we taped it. I remember we were in our van going up the motorway, and we listened to the show on the radio. As it played, we were saying things like, ‘Fucking hell, there’s something about that performance…’ By the end of it, we were all sold – it was brilliant.

“We phoned up the BBC straightaway and said, ‘Can we have a copy of that song called Nights Of White Satin?’ And they said, ‘No, we wiped it. We use the tapes at the BBC to record again.’ That sent a few of us, including myself, into a bit of a spin. I had to convince myself that we could still do it again, that the BBC version, as magical as it was, could be topped. “Three or four months later, when we got to record it for the album, I wasn’t completely convinced because I still thought there was a better version around. It’s just that I couldn’t compare it. It was a very odd thing.” Do you feel as though the success of the song changed people’s perceptions of the band? “I think it gave people a clearer idea of the sound of the band. Everybody had a specific part to play on the recording; it was the definitive sound of The Moody Blues. From the vocal performance to the high backing vocals to the Mellotron and the echoes – it’s all there.

Be it the single version or the full album version, you get the entire picture of the band in that one song.” The track in ’72 hit number one on Cashbox but only got to number two on Billboard. Was that upsetting – to be so close to number one? [Laughs] “Well, sure. I’ve got it on Cashbox that it went to number one, but of course, Cashbox means nothing now. Billboard is seen as being the definitive chart. It’s like what happened with the song Question, which reached number one for us in 1970. It reached number one on all of these other charts except for the BBC chart – they had a BBC record at number one. So these other charts have disappeared, sadly. That’s just the way it goes.” In addition to The Moody Blues recording, there have been many cover versions over the years. “Which is always a compliment. I did notice that a girl did it on America’s Got Talent recently, and then, of course, it takes off again – people start gravitating toward it. Three years ago, I was sent a version by Bettye LaBette, a French soul singer, and when I heard it I was moved to tears.

My wife came into the room and asked me what was wrong, and I said, ‘Listen to this.’ It’s a very curious thing to write a song at 19 or 20 years old and then to be 65 and hear somebody else discovering it and making it their own. I hear a lot of different recordings of it, and it’s amazing – I hear it as a new song every time.” Shifting gears here – you have a new solo release, the Spirits… Live Blu-ray and DVD. “Yeah, that was a wonderful opportunity. On the first solo tour, I had a lot of success with the Spirits Of The Western Sky album that I had out last year, and I decided to support it with a tour. Promoters wanted to see if there was any mileage to Justin with an acoustic guitar. Halfway through the tour, I thought, ‘I might never do this again, so I’d better record it.’ I’m very glad that I put it together. It’s a great little snapshot in time. “The funny thing is, speaking of things taking on lives of their own, that’s what happened here: I’ve done another two solo tours, and I’m just about to start another one.

I’ve got a great young kid with me, Mike Dawes. He’s a wonderful, marvelous guitar player, and he sustains me very well. And Julie Ragins, who works with the Moodys, is one of the greatest musicians I’ve ever known. She’s got the voice of an angel. It’s something that I enjoy. It’s a complement to the Moodys, but it’s also the perfect counterpoint to the big production that is the band.” Justin Hayward’s Spirits… Live: Live At The Buckhead Theatre, Atlanta can be purchased at Amazon .

Question: Which group had a top ten hit in 1972 with Nights In White Satin
Answer: The Moody Blues